January 2017 Prayer Letter

Happy New Year!

Praise the Lord for another year to serve him. This year will have many new challenges and adventures as we finish up our term and prepare to return on furlough. Thank you for your faithfulness in both prayer and financial support. It means a lot to us to know we have so many who are holding the ropes for us.

In November, we hosted Isaiah and Sarah Gibbs who were here on a survey trip. They are looking at returning to Madagascar once they start and complete deputation. Their desire is to work with children, and it would be a huge asset to the ministry here. Please pray for them as they follow God’s leading!

For Thanksgiving, we were able to have several American missionary families over and spend some time giving thanks for our blessings, and enjoying some traditional Thanksgiving foods.

The Discipleship and Evangelism course that I taught for a fellow missionary was completed at the beginning of December. This class was a great help for me to practice my Malagasy, and it seemed to help the students. We also hosted Mr. Bong Mampay, who is a missionary from the Philippines. He and his family are moving here in August 2017, once they complete their deputation.

We have had several answers to prayer. First, I was able to preach my first sermon completely in Malagasy on November the 6th, and On January the 8th, I preached my second Malagasy sermon. It has been a long process to get here, but God is good, and we are making progress in the language. Second, we were able to find airfare for our return for about $4,000 less than when we moved here.